Anatolia residents have been subject to a flurry of media attention as of late for an unusual reason: The Sacramento Rendering Plant near their neighborhood has been releasing a foul smell in to the air, angering homeowners and visitors to the area alike.

The smell issue is not new. In 2003, developers in the area attempted to sue the plant to install odor scrubbers. The suit was thrown out, but soon after the Sacramento County Planning Department refused to authorize any building permits to the company until they installed the scrubbers.

Some residents, however, are not as concerned with the plant itself as they are about what led them to being near it in the first place.

In an email to his Anatolia neighbors, resident James Goddard said that the media attention has focused too much on the rendering plant and not on the fact that their neighborhood was built so close to it.

“Why was our community approved to be built so close to such a facility that was not recommended by Air Quality management?” Goddard asked.

He also said that the original homeowners were given disclosures about the smell, but subsequent owners did not and realtors downplayed the odor to sell the houses.

The City of Rancho Cordova has now gotten involved with the issue. Yesterday, the city released a Fact Sheet authored by the company to try to appease the annoyed residents of the area.

Included in the document is a quick history on the plant and contact information for concerned residents. It also hints that there may be other sources of the odor, such as the Kiefer Landfill and Lopez Ag Services.

The Sacramento Rendering Company encourages residents to contact them regarding the smell at (800) 339-6493 so that they can better identify what operating conditions are causing the odor.

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Posted by Anne Lowe
on Jul 29 2009. Filed under Lifestyle, News.
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Nice article, Anne. I was not aware of the resident website either (I like the design of it). I would be very curious to hear more from Anatolia residents on this issue. How often do you smell the rendering plant? Can you smell it throughout Anatolia? I have friends in Mather who say they can smell it too. Can any Mather residents verify that?

The fact sheet that you refer to was not ‘just released’ by the City of Rancho Cordova. In fact it is dated last year and we have had it on our website since then. It was authored by SRC in an effort to provide information to the public. The City has an interest in its residents, of course, but we have no direct or indirect role in the rendering plant which is in Sacramento County.

I live in Sunridge Park and like clockwork, depending on the way the wind blows, the odor makes it’s way all the way out there on and off between 6:30pm every day and stops at about 10:00pm. I don’t have a problem with the rendering plant being there OR developing land “close” to it. I have a problem with not being good neigbors. One way or another the scrubbers *must* be used. It’s an environmental issue as well as a nuisance. You can’t use the excuse that “there’s noone around” to dump toxins into the environment. Aerojet did that and now everyone (including them) are paying for it decades later.